The WILD life of Houdini year by year

Here at WILD ABOUT HARRY I have an ongoing series that chronicles each year of Houdini's life. These posts describe events chronically, which is not the approach of most biographies. In fact, one of my great frustrations with Houdini biographies is how they blend years together and move events around for the sake of narrative flow and page count.

I've discovered a strict chronology of each year reveals fresh new insights. For example, who knew that World War I was instrumental in the creation of Houdini's vanishing elephant? I also try to bring forward events, big and small, that seemed to have influenced or shaped Houdini in ways that have been missing, or simply don't work, with a conventional biographical approach. I know I've learned a lot in doing these.

Below you can see links to the years I've completed so far. Each new year I do a post that marks the 100th anniversary of that year (I started these in 2015). Then during the course of the year, I fill in other years of Houdini's life. Unless I decide to accelerate things, the idea is they will all connect and I'll have Houdini's full life chronicled by 2026.